About MBK Consulting

In 2016, we started offering Book Binding and Repair Services as an off-shoot of our ever popular Book Repair Workshops. Look for our offerings on the home page.

Researching in public record centers, archives, and libraries continues to fill our days. Two recent projects were a study of canals in Ohio, their creation, and laws about their use, and a nomination for the National Register of Historic Places. The nomination is for a Queen Anne house and farm in central Ohio.

Past projects include a study of the history of geographical areas from the founding of the State of Ohio to the present, and documenting early history and exploration of the Northwest Territory and the Midwest United States. These projects involve work in historical and archival repositories, public records centers, and historical preservation resources and collections.

As always, I am writing articles and reviews, reports and memos, and blogs. If you want to follow the blogs for my courses, go to my Blog page for the links.

A recent writing project is a series of vignettes on the history of printing in Ohio. The project focuses on printing companies and how they evolved. The challenge, write about a person or organization in 350 words or less. I hope some of the vignettes will expand into longer articles. Contact me at mbkcons@gmail.com for a copy.

Book and exhibition reviews provide opportunities to learn about a new topic. Look for my reviews in SHARPNews, Ohioana Quarterly, and other publications. I write audiobook reviews on a regular basis for AudioFile Magazine, a great publication that looks at audiobook performance.

My dissertation Werner and His Empire: The Rise and Fall of a Gilded Age Printer is finished and deposited with UMI / ProQuest (Dec 2011). This work reconstructed the history of an Akron printing company in the Gilded Age. Numerous primary sources and newspapers were mined to study this undocumented company and examine how the printing industry changed between 1870 and 1914.

A series of short articles about locating and using primary sources for historical research is in the works, spawned directly from the dissertation. Other potential projects include studies in print culture and documentary editing. I plan to blog about primary sources, indices, and research methods.

August 2012 was my half-year quasi-sabbatical. Why quasi? I taught an online course on Rare Book and Special Collection Librarianship while visiting cultural institutions and historical sites in an effort to re-energize my love of the written word and the world around me. I wrote about this adventure in my newest blog http://mbkcons.blogspot.com/

A revised edition of “Disaster Response and Planning for Libraries” was published by ALA. Librarians and archivists need to think more broadly about disasters, natural and man-made, especially in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina and 9/11, and the collapse of the archives in Cologne. The new edition, (the third), came out in March 2012 and published through ALA.

“The Library Security and Safety Guide to Prevention, Planning, and Response” looks at security and safety issues for cultural institutions’ collections and users. It was published by ALA in spring 2008.

“Protecting Your Library’s Electronic Resources”, a book about protecting electronic data was published by ALA in February 2004.

Planning for disasters never stops. We must be ever vigilant and prepared. Some new areas of the field are policies and procedures, working with emergency management agencies and public safety offices. New books in the field explore these topics. I’ve become interested in how cultural institutions and municipalities dealt with disasters in the past (a field described as Disaster History). Look for some blog posts that will provide some historical perspective.

We are continuing our work to enhance and improve Genealogy and Local History Reference Service provided by libraries and archives by providing targeted research methods workshops. While expanding these workshops, Miriam works actively retrieving information and history from libraries, historical societies, genealogy organizations and court houses. This is our most popular workshop.

Company History
MBK CONSULTING was founded by Miriam Kahn, MLS, MA, PhD in 1991. The company specializes in providing consulting and educational services to libraries, archives, historical societies, museums and other cultural institutions. In addition, MBK CONSULTING provides reference services on a consulting basis to businesses, law firms and individuals. We do have partnerships with other librarians who assist when needed.

We regularly teach workshops for librarians at the Kent State University School of Library and Information Science as well as at OHIONET, the state’s library consortium, and many other library and genealogy groups.

In the fall of 2010, Miriam taught a survey course in World Civilizations to 1650 to undergraduates for the History Department at Kent State University, a fun and rewarding experience.

Educational Background

BA -History from University of Wisconsin at Madison

MLS – Specializing in Research and Reference – Queens College – CUNY

MA – History from Hunter College – CUNY

Ph.D. – History at Kent State University Dissertation “Werner and His Empire: The Rise & Fall of a Gilded Age Printer” focusing on print history and culture in NE Ohio in the Gilded Age and early Progressive Era.

References: contact MBK directly for a list of people and organizations who regularly contract with MBK CONSULTING

Hobbies & Personal Activities

Miriam has been teaching book repair for over 25 years and has branched out to work with fibers as well as paper. Her newest endeavors involve preservation & conservation of fiber art as well as the creation of such pieces. Miriam is involved with the CML Appliqué Group and the Stan Hywet Needlework Guild.

Of course, Miriam reads voraciously both physically and aurally. She has been reviewing audio books in many formats for over 26 years for AudioFile Magazine www.audiofilemagazine.com